Junglee Brew

INDIAN EXPRESS

Junglee Brew

Sanjay Kapur has been thoughtfully nostalgic since the day Shammi Kapoor passed away. The owner of Aap Ki Pasand,a 30-year-old tea boutique in Old Delhi’s Daryaganj,he fondly remembers the times when a particular buyer from Mumbai would come looking for San-cha Deep Red Assam tea. Knowing that his clients were fussy and selective tea-lovers who would question the character of the teas before brewing it for a hot cup,he once asked who this buyer represented. “Shammi Kapoor,the actor,” came the reply. Apparently,the late actor would specially commission its purchase through a dedicated tea buyer. That little bit of information continued to simmer in Kapur’s memory,he being a big fan of Bollywood’s only Junglee. “The San-cha Assamica,or the Camellia Assamica is an Indian jungli bush,that yields the long-leafed tea,” says Kapur. “Kapur says,“The British loved it and wanted to grow it in their colonies. They brought the bush and tried in vain to plant it in Kangra,Almora etc but nothing could replace the unique flavour of the Assamica,” he says. “It is jungli you see and by that I mean it is domicile and represents India’s bio-diversity. It is one of our most popular teas,” he says. The metaphor needs no brewing,it is ready to taste.